Himiko No Sekkai | handmade lovable goods

hexagon detail

We had to evict a monster recently.

It was living on the bedroom wall of my youngest. Two big picture frames for eyes, a lamp for an arm, lots of gloomy imagination and you have yourself a monster to reckon with.

It sounds funny but in reality it scared my girl to death. According to her it tried to get of the wall by throwing ribbons from the ceiling... ???... and all that was left to do was to evict the thing.

I never knew that all it takes to evict a monster is getting down some frames and storing away a lamp or two.

But now the wall is rather empty. Blank and lonesome looking. And it's terrible difficult to come up with something monster proof. Previous suggestions had been discarded by our offspring as they could harbor yet again a new monster. I know, the best educational thing here is to probably sit down with her for hours and nights on end in an effort to get the idea that monsters don't exist stick into her head. But 4 year olds have a lot of stamina and imagination and quite frankly there are not enough hours in the night to negotiate our way through it.

So now we're negotiating monster proof wall decorations. The one above was approved. Yeah! Her suggestion to make ten more and cover the wall with it was unfortunately not approved by yours truly. Still some ground -or wall- to cover there...

hexagon wall decoration

hexagon top view

And for those of you who are wondering... it's a shameless rip off of a potholder Nanacompany made.. Shame on me.

And now for something completely different. How about a question directed to you?

Let me set the scene. As spring is making a swift return, I tend to get all domestic. Tidying up, sorting out, streamlining the house basically. And the house includes my workspace. With all of the stash in there. As I am streamlining my stash, I'm wondering if you are too? And if so, and even if not, if I were to asssemble some swaps from the many things I keep finding, would any of you feel like swapping some of your stash?

Just a question. Feel free to leave your ideas in a comment.

Oh, and keep an eye out for next month. As spring also comes with my birthday, I'll be hosting a givaway for the occassion! Happy cleaning!

A bit of catch-up if you all don't mind...

Right in the middle of the famously 'busy' month of December my oldest got invited to a birthday party from a class mate. We made the birthday girl a little something. From a local shop my daughter picked out a set of a notebook, some pencils and erasers for next to nothing. We undid the horrible wrapping and had some fun making our own, coordinated wrapping. These little bits and bobs instantly gained in classy looks.

Then we headed for the felt, lace and fabric leftovers and made a pink selection. In no time I was able to sew a small, personalized bag to put all the presents in. The daughter made a complementary birthday drawing and off she went.

party bag detail

party bag with content

The party which was being held in an indoor playground turned out to be a great success. And so did the gifts.

And then you grow older. And so do your children. And you think 'aha, no more babies around. Time for some serious kid's sewing.'

But then those kids start collecting babies. Doll babies thankfully. But babies nonetheless. And then those babies start claiming your sewing time because well let's see, they are cold because the don't own knitted sweaters. Or they can't sleep because there's a lack of pretty blankets. Yes, pretty being the operative word here. Never mind the pile of blankets that's in the cradle. None of those are pretty apparently. And nothing pretty, means a crying baby and no sleep. So... here we go. Some baby blankets. For dolls.

quilt in cradle

doll with quilt

And I must admit. It actually is much prettier. And much more comfy for sure. As if that really matters... I know... we're talking dolls. But still, it's all in the mind they say. In this case the mind of a 4 year old. And that mind only settles for pretty and comfy. Can't blame her.

quilt detail

It's a sort of a granny square pattern, tilted squares but without sashes between the different blocks.

doll quilt corner detail

The thing is that these small doll quilts are a sort of samples aren't they. Want to try a new pattern. Just do a miniature version in the shape of a doll quilt and you'll soon see if you could handle the idea on a grand scale.

up close

I did the quilting with thin quilting thread by Mettler as I went for the really tiny stitches ... each square measures about 3,5 cm and there are around 9 stitches on each patch. It gives that great old and wrinkled effect but unfortunately they seem to disappear on the pictures. Oh well, I know they're there. So do my fingers. If only I could quilt using thimbles...

Tidying up is a bit like magic. All of the sudden all these things you had no idea you still had, start turning up. Of some you think 'Why didn't I give this one the boot long ago?', of others you think 'Finally, finally I found it!' and of others still you ponder 'Hmmm, I wonder if I can put this to use?'.

I came across two little towels. Plain things. Ikea I suspect. Not very appealing, nor useful due to their size. But then I remembered seeing cute bear like placemats around and hey presto, now they are the priced possessions of my offspring at bath time. See... magic, I tell you.

bear faces

I just added a gingham bear face to the top of the towel. A soft flannel lining makes that it has the same thickness and softness as the rest of the towel. For washing purposes, the applique is made from cotton fabric scraps stitched on with a blanket stitch. The back of the ears is from a white furry fabric.

two full bears

A lace trim softens the edge between the gingham fabric and the towel.

edgings

The bottom is finished off with a crocheted lace edge. I used plain cotton for this and a hook size 3mm.

And just to sweeten it all up, my name tag and a small bear tag.

edging detail

pink version

The ideal size for a fun bathmat to drip on when stepping out of the tub. In real life they are even cuter than these pictures might suggest. They have been, appropriately, named 'Rosie' and 'Blue'tje' by my daughters. And let me tell you, good thing I have young children around. This way I can use these cute items all the time without looking like 'the woman who just couldn't face upto her age'! I highly recommend it....

And then I managed to finish the embroidery by Gera Gera! The tortoise and the hare.... in an autumn scenery.... eye candy. Now all is left is to figure out where to put the frame?

gera details

framed

gera setting

Thank you Niamh for including this wonderful embroidery in our swap! It's a gem!

And as we're not able to house a real Alice ourselves -damn you allergies- we found a perfect doppelgänger. A cuddly little dog with a matching color scheme which granddad brought home from a trip to Sweden some time ago. So now my oldest who's nuts about the real Alice and who is the absolute center of the universe for the real Alice, owns her own little cuddly version.

And of course, a responsible dog owner makes sure that the dog is well equipped. A mini version of the dog blanket was called for. As well as a toy shaped like a bone, a collar with a name tag and a leash. The basket was discovered on a shelf for boxes and baskets which are no longer in use. Gotta love recycling!

alice full setup

The collar and leash are made from ribbon which I doubled and attached to some metal clips found on an old keychain. The name tag is a scrappy bit of felt with some gold embroidery floss (yes, gold it had to be... oh my, 6 year olds have some strong views).

collar and name tag

The blanket is a mini version of the ripple blanket that I made for the real deal. I've used the leftovers from the cotton that I had stashed away. Fleur de cotton by la Droguerie is it.

chevron blanket

And a piece of felt became a small toy..

felt toy

Another cuddly toy with a cool setup. And another small dent in my stash of leftovers. Everyone happy!

Alice the pup is growing and thriving over at grandma's. And when she comes to visit ... well then she goes crazy in our yard. Running so fast that she falls over her own paws... Four months old and more enthousiastic than ever. She's a real outdoors dog. And one with a particular love for snow:

alice in the snow

alice

One could be fooled into thinking that there's absolutely no mischief on her mind...

Apparently my spam filter has been slightly overzealous as off late... treating you all as potential spam bots. Well, on his behalf, I do apologize. Some alterations have been made and you should all be free to comment again. Should you however, still run into difficulty, give me a shout and all will be fixed.

Back in the year 2011, how ancient does that sound, I was cleaning and dusting my workroom and my eye was drawn to a jar filled with tiny felt leftovers. Right, I said to myself, as pretty as that jar looks, it's about to overflow so I better start thinking about how to use them. As I'm writing this now, a gazillion ideas are hatching in my brain but back in the day I could merely think 'perhaps a needle book... or two?'.

I ended up making three. These three to be precise:

needlebooks

needlebook inside

inside of all three books

Nothing fancy. Just some ancient French heavy cotton sheet with bits of felt in color mosaics on them. The cover of the book is then stitched to a piece of felt which is slightly larger so that it can show off the pinked edges.

Inside four pages offer plenty of needle space.

side view

A satin tie keeps it all together.

I rather like them. They look fresh and inviting and a bit sweet too. And they're entirely made from scraps. Looking at the jar however, it's still overflowing. Perhaps it's time to make a move on those remaining gazillion ideas.

Eek...a monster..

A little note

Parties galore

Growing old

Bear alert!

Gera Gera!

Doppelgänger

Alice in winterland

Feel free to comment

Oh scrap!